As key Democratic figures throw away excuses to enable trans athletes in women's sports, conservative critics are using inconsistent messages.
Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on a podcast that trans athletes who compete in women's sports are “deeply unfair,” but believe that it will happen legally due to concerns about the “poor people” towards transgender people.
When Hakeem Jeffries, a leader of house minority, was asked about Newsom's comments, Jeffries repeated the unfounded claim that laws that block trans athletes from girls' sports “unlock” sexual predators to girls across the country. It was the same argument Jeffries offered when the House voted in April to pass protections for women and girls in sports law.
Maine Assemblyman Laurel Libby has recently been promoted to a key political figure in the fight to protect female athletes from trans-inclusion, facing Newsom and Jeffries in an interview on Outkick's “Gaines for Girls” podcast with Riley Gaines.
Libby said she believes Newsom's recent comments “mean nothing.”
“I don't think I'm seeing Gavin Newsom do anything about it. That's the equivalent of 'Which way is the wind blowing here?”,” Libby said. “Gavin Newsom is a smart political animal and he understands that 80% of Americans don't agree with the biological men in women's sports, so he takes a bit of a common sense position here.
“It certainly turned the Democrats into tailspin because they don't know what to do with that.”
Laurel Libby of Maine files lawsuit over accusations to call trans athletes in women's sports
Libby became famous for the issue after making a social media post in February. When they identified Maine's trans-athletes who won the Maine Paul Vault Competition, the state rejected President Donald Trump's executive order, allowing them to keep them out of women's sports.
Libby was subsequently accused by the Maine House of Representatives for the Post, but on Tuesday she filed a lawsuit against the state president to restore his right to vote and speak.
Meanwhile, Gaines targeted Jeffries for his argument. It alienated multiple Democrat voters and urged some of those voters to unsubscribe from the party after being pushed out by him and other Democrats.
“I think he hints we want to have a genital test, and that's always something they go, but again, that's definitely not the case.
“It's one of the birth certificates and I think I'm happy because you can change your birth certificate in all but six states. I've seen the cheek swab in a place that's a simple saliva test to decide on sex.
Democrat voters abandon the party after the AOC, Jeffries says anti-trans athletes will empower sexual predators
Newsom and Jeffreys' excuses sparked a backlash amid the recent national uprising.
On the day Newsom made his comments, California schools and residents were affected by trans-inclusion in sports. A FoxNews Digital statement masked the governor for not taking any action to address the issue last year.
Stoneridge Christian School in Merced, California confiscated a playoff game against San Francisco Waldorf to the women's volleyball team in the fall due to the presence of trans athletes on Waldorf's team. It was the decision to end Stoneridge Christian's season as Newsom's policy forced the women's volleyball team into a situation where they had to refuse to play to avoid compromising their religious beliefs.
“What's really unfair is that even though we acknowledge it's unfair, we still have big governments to compete in women's sports. It's common sense for men and women to compete in their own teams, but this is especially concerning as a religious school.
Click here to get the Fox News app
From left: Hakeem Jeffries and Gavin Newsom, Maine Rep. Laurel Libby, and activist Riley Gaines. (Getty Images)
The party officially lost voters after Jeffries and other House Democrats, including Alexandria Ocasion-Cortez (DN.Y.), pushed the argument that women and girls in sports law could give sexual predators a genital test and girls could have a genital test.
Gary Francione, a prominent Rutgers law professor, is a lifelong Democrat and previously told Fox News Digital that he and others in his network were not registered as Democrats in discussion.
“I can say with confidence about the people I know, the Democrats I spoke to. The majority of them are very unhappy with all this and feel the party has lost their way,” Francione said. “I know of the couple who said they were going (not registered).”
Trump has vowed to cut federal funding for state or public institutions that keep transathletes competing with women and girls. He showed that he was willing to succeed that promise on Tuesday, when USDA cut millions of funding to eight Maine universities.
Follow Fox News Digital's Sports Coverage on X and subscribe to Fox News Sports Huddle Newsletter.